Exploring types of conversational agents for resolving cancer patients' questions and concerns: Analysis of 100 telephone consultations on breast cancer.

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the types of conversational agents (CA) that can help address questions and concerns ("lay topics" [LTs]).

Methods: We analyzed audio recordings of telephone consultations with 100 breast cancer patients and their families. (1) We identified the content and mode of expression of LTs about breast cancer raised during actual telephone consultations. (2) We checked for the presence of clue information (CI) that can help patients resolve their LTs.

Results: None of the 805 LTs of the 100 callers were the same. Treatment-related questions occurred in 70 of the 100 consultations. CIs were present in 52.5% of the LTs.

Conclusion: The results suggest that chatbots (a type of CA) that offer CIs are more feasible than chatbots that answer each question directly in cancer consultations. Moreover, it is difficult to answer questions directly because preparing answers to all LTs in a breast cancer consultation is challenging owing to LT differences. Therefore, preparing high-quality CIs focused on treatments is required.

Practice Implications: An increasing number of cancer patients are seeking information to resolve their LTs. CAs can help supplement the limited human resources available if they are supplied with appropriate CIs.